I have jumped around various genres of production music including: tension, dramedy, corporate, hip hop etc, and even had some placements in these various styles. My question is, what are some production music genres/subgenres that involve jazz elements? I am a jazz/blues/funk pianist at heart and I find it hard at times to incorporate some of my more natural jazzy styles/elements into production music because it doesn’t seem to fit the “norm” of many of the genres I listed. Can anybody help give me some ideas of how I can approach production music with a jazz-piano element to it? Or, perhaps point me toward a library that might have some good examples of this?

Hip-Hop Jazz/Funk is a good idea. Several libraries have albums in this style. You could also include jazzy elements to your dramedy (or hip-hop dramedy) productions. Quirky electronica for ads could use some jazz/funk touch too.

Check with the big libraries and listen to as many albums as you can. Type in ‘jazz,funk,blues’ to the search engine of these libraries,might be surprised with your findings.

To be honest, “in TV Libraries” there is simply no market for it right now.

We are in a time (Sad) where Gadgetry, Tricks, and Sound Design have taken over, and real music is at one of its LOWEST Places ever.

I have had Presidents/Execs of Libraries, and Library Owners send me “very heartfelt emails” telling me they loved my “Jazzy” pieces, but there is simply no market for it. They as well said they would rather not even attempt tying up the tracks, and them not selling.

I would say, keep writing what you love, mainly to keep your chops. Then, just stock-pile them, and wait for an opportunity to happen.

Also, just so I am honest. Jazz infused tracks, and more complexed chordings/arrangements don’t do well in “TV Libraries” BUT they do really well for Movies, and Branding. I have been getting my Jazzy pieces placed there.

fwiw, “Jazz” is the 29th most searched term on Pond5. There’s absolutely a market for it, and you can cut yourself a nice niche in that market if you write it well. This guy writes a ton of it, and his tracks are some of the best-selling on the site: https://www.pond5.com/artist/stevericemusic

+1 for lo-fi hip hop too. It’s the defining sound of YouTube at the moment, so TV people will eventually start using it within the next 10 years, and continue using long after it’s gone out of fashion. 🙂